


How One Girl Changed a Perfectly Good Relationship and Ruined her Partners' Lives

by IdiotsPartyof5



Category: Brave (2012), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012), Tangled (2010)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-28 08:45:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13900464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IdiotsPartyof5/pseuds/IdiotsPartyof5
Summary: Jack, Hiccup, and Merida have always been happy together, including in a relationship. When a new student arrives at their high school, she throws off their long-time dynamic and completely changes their lives for the better.The problem is her mother doesn't quite agree with them. Can they prove to her that it's not always a "mother knows best" kind of world and open up her heart?High school AU, established relationship





	1. Where Do I Begin?

**Author's Note:**

> The author sits back at her desk and realizes that it's been 6 years since people cared about this fandom, and wonders what she's doing with herself.  
> Then, she thinks back on those six years and realizes: "Nobody I ever saw did this. Everybody fought over what ship was better, crapped on the less popular ships, and never considered this as an alternative. If they did, it must have had a cult following. I'll change that once and for all."  
> You can expect a lot more poly Big 4 fics from her, as time goes on.

Look. No matter what you do in life, people are gonna hate it. Like animated movies well into your adult life? People are gonna make fun of that. Eat mac and cheese almost everyday in your 40’s? Yeah, people are gonna make fun of that.

But nothing gets made fun of more than who you love. GOD help you if you love ANYONE—same sex, opposite sex, other sex. I mean, it’s really not safe for anyone—even straight people, dealing with anything from racists to sarcastic comments about their looks (“why do you like her? She’s so weird”, “he’s a few pounds beneath you, honey”, and other assorted bullshit).

Basically, what I’m saying is—live your fucking life and be who you want to be. Life ain’t gonna lighten up, society isn’t gonna change their minds that quick.

And that’s the philosophy I, my girlfriend, and our boyfriend live by.

Hiccup, Merida, and I were always a package deal. We’ve spent our entire lives together, barely separating. I can literally say we’ve spent 99% of our lives within reaching distance of each other, and the other 1% on our phones with each other, whether in a group chat or phone call. Everyone knew this. EVERYONE.

Hell, the SCHOOLS stopped trying to separate us after a few days, usually. Elementary school took a year, but after that, we were always in the same classes. I never knew why we were all so attached at the hip, but none of us ever questioned it.

Sure, we all sort of tried our hands at dating. Hiccup’s last girlfriend was the one who finally told us why it never worked out.

One Friday, we were at his place, having a pizza and movie night, when Astrid, his then girlfriend, surprised us at the door. She had wanted to have a night out with Hiccup, but, upon walking in and seeing all three of us, had flat-out snapped.

“DAMMIT! That’s it! I’m done! I finally see what everyone else at school sees. Why the FUCK are you two here on a FRIDAY NIGHT at eight in the FUCKING evening?! It’s dark. You guys live MILES apart. WHEN are you planning on going home?!”

Merida and I had shared a look before looking back. “Tomorrow?”

This apparently only further angered her. “FUCK IT! FUCK! IT! When are you three going to realize how FUCKING in love you three all are with each other?! How many more failed relationships do you people have to go through?! Listen, people, I do really enjoy your company. And if you all really were just good friends, I’d be thrilled to be in your presence and accept you as a package deal. But the number of times I’ve come up to you to see whoever’s in the middle holding hands with the other two, arms AROUND the other two, playing with the HAIR of the other two, for FUCK’S sake, I’ve given up. I’ve had to detangle my own goddamn boyfriend from you two literally every fucking day! And he doesn’t even register that I’m his girlfriend when I walk up! He doesn’t detangle himself, he just smiles and talks to me snuggling you two! Listen, it’s great that you guys make each other happy, but FUCK, don’t lead a girl on like that!”

With that, Astrid abruptly stormed out.

After she had left, we finally began to discuss it ourselves. We didn’t move, we didn’t separate to think, we talked about it.

“Y’know, it might explain why I was never interested in the guys my parents introduced me to,” Merida points out. “That, and they all looked like massive idiots.”

I shrugged. “It does explain a lot about our dynamic.”

“Holy shit, how have we never noticed this before?” Hiccup looks at the two of us.

We all share a look before promptly laughing. And after that, it was… real. We didn’t change much, except the addition of kisses and happy cuddling to our usual constant contact, and that, while we were in the same classes, our teachers put us in new seats apart from each other (teachers at our high school do their best to keep couples from being distracted, even if they’re in the same class). Nobody questioned it, because everyone expected it—hell, some kids (Toothina “Tooth” Fairline being one of them) thought we WERE a happy relationship.

That’s how it’s been for years, and I didn’t expect it to ever change, not really. Our dynamic was us.

Then, the new girl showed up, and our dynamic (though it didn’t break) was severely altered.


	2. In Which We Meet the Single Most Beautiful Girl Any of Us Have Seen and Two of Us are Dating a Pretty Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little more insight to how this world works and make sense from their perspectives-- plus, the (background) introductions of some additional characters!

We were in our English class, third period of the day, when the principal interrupted the class to bring us a new student. This shit never happens, except in the movies, but here we are.

I slowly looked up and promptly froze in shock.

She was absolutely gorgeous. Long blonde hair, big green eyes, and a very awkward, but very cute, smile. I look back to Hiccup to make sure I wasn’t the only one seeing this shit.

Hiccup, in the back corner, looked over from his usual “stare out at the sky” thing and froze, looking at me, then at her. I nodded, confirming that “holy shit this girl is gorgeous”.

We both look to Merida, three seats down from me on my right. She was… as usual, doing her homework for our next class period. She finally glances up to acknowledge the new girl, looking back at her work, before slowly looking back up, then looking back at the two of us. Okay, NOW I know for sure this was happening. All three of us saw the same thing in her.

She shyly introduces herself as Rapunzel and mentions that she was actually homeschooled before coming here. The teacher, possibly granting us good fortune, puts her in the seat next to me on my left.

When we’re given free time to do the classwork, I turn politely to the girl on my left. “Hi, I’m Jack. It’s nice to meet you.”

She looks at me, smiling brightly. “Hi, Jack. You already know my name, though, so I don’t know where to go from there.”

As students start to move around to sit with their friends, Merida takes the seat to my right and Hiccup to Rapunzel’s left. Rapunzel blushes. “Oh, no, I’m sorry, I wasn’t making moves on your—”

Merida waves her off. “Please. If I got jealous easily, neither of my boyfriends would put up with me.”

“Boyfriends? Plural?” Rapunzel looks confused.

Hiccup clears his throat awkwardly. “…hi?”

Rapunzel looks over, startled, looking between the three of us. “Oh! So, you’re both dating her? That’s… interesting. I’ve never come across that in person before.”

“Y-yeah. We’re also dating each other. We’ve always been a package deal before we finally realized that we all liked each other like this, so…” Hiccup bites his lip. He’s clearly fallen hard like Merida and me. He only stutters like that when he’s interested in someone.

She laughs. “Oh, jeez. Here, go ahead and switch seats with me. Sorry I’m dividing you three.” She gets up with her stuff.

He blushes. “Y-you don’t have to—”

“Go right ahead!” Rapunzel nods to him.

Embarrassed, he gets up and trades with her. She’s still regarding us curiously. Merida smiles. “I’m Merida, by the way. It’s lovely to meet you.”

“Hiccup,” Hiccup finally remembers to add. “My dad’s entire family has always been big on using Viking style nomenclature.”

“That’s adorable as hell. My name just means lettuce.” Rapunzel shrugs. “Germans.”

Merida chuckles dryly. I smile a bit. “And, uh, if you have questions, and I get the feeling you do, you can ask us. We’re pretty open about our relationship.”

“Oh, thank god,” she looks at me. “I’m actually dying of curiosity here. So… how exactly do you guys date? I mean, what’s the… do you split time, or…?”

“Not really,” Merida shrugs. “We’ve been inseparable since practically birth. To the point we were holding hands and cuddling long before someone yelled at us to get ourselves together.”

Astrid, in front of me, turns around in that moment. “And I’m still glad I did.”

“We’re all pretty glad you did, actually, thanks for the input, Astrid,” I nod to her. She laughs and goes back to her work.

Rapunzel laughs. “So it’s just…”

“Pissing people off by walking down the hall in a line, basically. And figuring out which parent is responsible for feeding three teenagers that day.” I shrug. “We’re still what we always were, just more kisses.”

Hiccup blushes and looks at his desk. Merida’s not too sexual by nature, Hiccup and I on the other hand… not that I was in the mood to be forward about that. Rapunzel nods, smiling. “That’s cute, I’m glad to hear not much has changed. Um… out of curiosity, and you don’t have to answer, but—”

“Bisexual,” Hiccup rolls his eyes.

I lean back in my seat. “Pansexual.”

“And I’m asexual.” Merida smiles. “We get asked that a lot.”

“I can tell,” Rapunzel giggles a bit. “Do you guys get harassed about your relationship a lot?”

“Nope.” I shrug.

Merida sighs. “I think it depends on how you define harassment. I don’t like answering questions when we don’t tell people they can question us. Most people think, hey, this is strange and new! Let me bother the crap out of them trying to understand it! Unless we said it’s okay to ask… don’t ask.”

She’s saying this to the back of someone’s head. Notably, it’s one of the guys who always bugs her about having two boyfriends—Harry Dingwall. I can see his face turning red. I chuckle a bit.

Hiccup looks at Rapunzel. “Not you, of course. We said you can ask—we don’t mind answering your questions, since you’re new to our school and most everyone else has adjusted to this being what it is at this point.”

Rapunzel nods quickly. “I understand.” She nods to the very red-faced guy Merida had been passive-aggressively calling out. “How did your parents take it?”

We all share looks. I nod to Merida to go first, since she had the best reaction from her parents. None of us had necessarily negative reactions—well, Hiccup’s was in the very beginning, but for the most part, everything’s really been fine for all of us since then.

Merida smiles. “My parents were constantly trying to introduce me to boys from some local prep schools. A bunch of idiots, really, and I couldn’t stand any of them. Neither could my brothers. Of course, mom and dad always loved these two—when we were younger, we lived all next door to each other and spent a lot of time together, so it wasn’t that much of a change for them to go from thinking of them as their daughter’s friends to their daughter’s boyfriends. They were also coming into the understanding that I wanted to date for love, rather than the varying status levels—they love each other, sure, but that doesn’t change why their relationship began.”

She smiles a bit at the memories. I can’t help it, so do I. When we’d come in, Merida had been outright terrified—certain they’d not be happy with us. And Elinor had just smiled and said she’s always considered us to be her sons, and now we were just one step closer—she fully believed this was meant to last.

Fergus had agreed, and so did the three of us. People scoff, but… nothing’s changed for us, not in the years before we were dating or the three since we became official.

And Merida’s brothers? They didn’t care, not even slightly—Hamish told us not to “do that gross kissy stuff in front of him”, and Hubert and Harris had wholeheartedly agreed with that sentiment. I had laughed at that.

Merida was answering some questions about her family and how exactly they’ve been taking things—it’s mostly inviting us to outings that they usually reserved for whatever boy they wanted Merida to try at the time and including us more in their lives. Her brothers have been pretty good and considered us part of the family as well—at different times, the boys have separately come to us and asked both how our marriage would work and if they could be ring bearers.

I love the DunBrochs. They’re so good to us as Merida’s boyfriends and as part of their family.

Rapunzel nods, looking at me. “How about you?”

I shrug. “Well, North—”

“North?” Rapunzel looks puzzled.

I nod. “North. My stepdad, who adopted me as his own after my mother passed. He’s always insisted on being called North, and I don’t mind.”

“Oh, okay!” She smiles. “Go on.”

“North was pretty good about it, too—started treating Merida and Hiccup as his own, introduced them as ‘my son’s partners’ when he introduced them to some family friends at one of the things we have every year—they usually never went because North wanted to save it for my partners. After we told him about the situation, he invited them to that year’s big barbeque thing, so…” I smile a bit, shrugging. “Overall, he and his friends have always been pretty good.”

Which is true—North and all his buddies go by nicknames—North, Sandy, Jackrabbit, and Tooth (Tooth Jr’s mom, actually)—and they absolutely loved adding “Arrows” and “Viking” to the mix. They already called me Frost (I guess to keep up with North’s theme?) and it’s always felt like one big family. One huge, very accepting family.

Tooth Jr (Baby Tooth being her actual nickname, but for school purposes she goes by Tooth Jr), was genuinely surprised that day. “You mean they weren’t dating before?”

Merida had laughed her ass off about that one, and Hiccup had just buried his face in his hands as I (flustered and red-faced) attempted to explain that no, no we weren’t, we didn’t realize how much we truly liked each other.

Rapunzel nods, smiling happily, looking at Hiccup. “And you, Hiccup?”

Hiccup winces. “My dad has… always been hard-pressed to deal with change. The modern relationships confused him, so my polyamory was… difficult, at first. He was very awkward and a little angry when they came around for a long time. Insisted I just hadn’t found the right girl. It took him some time to really adjust, but he’s pretty good with it now.”

It had been hard for him. Sure, Merida and I were a little stung, but it had been worse for him—he had to live with it. His dad tried to cut off his contact to us for a bit and had kept him home—it took a long time for him to come around to us. Once he finally did, he’s become one of the best parental figures—I think he’s trying to make up for what he was like when he first heard about us.

Rapunzel’s eyes were wide. “I’m so sorry.”

“It is what it is. You can’t change the past, only improve in the present.” Hiccup shrugs.

“And he’s certainly improved,” Merida nods, “You really can’t argue that.”

“Nope,” I agree.

We all lapse into silence, working for a bit. Rapunzel keeps making glances at the three of us—maybe she’s interested, or maybe I’m stupid bad at social cues.

I’m probably stupid bad at social cues.

Rapunzel sighs. “That just seems really awesome. Good for all of you guys—don’t let anything get you down.”

“Thanks,” I say with a small smile as the bell rings and we’re dismissed from class.

I chuckle as Merida suddenly groans in frustration and puts her head on her math homework. Hiccup sighs and hands her the second copy of the homework he’d done in a handwriting that mimicked hers. She kisses his cheek happily as she takes it. “My hero.”

“Hey!” I pout a bit.

“You don’t do the homework either,” she giggles. “Much less mine.”

“Yeah, but he wouldn’t do yours if you’d stop worrying about it. You’d really be taking the stress off of him.” I shrug.

Hiccup forces more homework into my arms. “You two idiots would fail if you didn’t have me. For Valentine’s, don’t give me mushy stuff. Do your fucking homework.”

We both laugh and kiss each of his cheeks. Merida beams. “Aww, but I have archery lessons. Who else is gonna hunt to feed you two when we’re trapped on a deserted island when Jack ends up crash-landing a plane somehow?”

“You don’t take lessons, you give them. Just schedule around them,” Hiccup grumbles halfheartedly.

“Um, hey, do you guys know where the science classrooms are?” Rapunzel interrupts what would otherwise be a weekly argument.

I look over, checking her schedule. “Sure, your class is on the way to ours. C’mon.”

With that, we finish getting our things together, Hiccup still grumbling about our homework, and lead her off.


End file.
